Magnet to spend €1m on triple-play promo

18 Jan 2006

Up and coming broadband provider Magnet Networks has revealed plans to invest €1m in marketing its new 8Mb triple-play broadband service that covers TV, internet and phone calls.

Under the new offering customers will receive 8Mb of broadband, 27 TV channels and free local and national calls for €59 a month. Customers who sign up right away will get the package for €34 a month for the first two months.

The company makes the case that by switching from their existing accounts, users could potentially shave €500 or more per year off their domestic communications and entertainment bills.

To promote the new offering Magnet is spending €1m on an advertising campaign between January and March that will transcend TV, radio, online and outdoor sites with the slogan “Always settle for more”.

In September, Magnet revealed plans to invest €65m in its national network by the end of 2008. The previous May the company acquired Dublin-based broadband wireless specialist Leap Broadband, a business services provider serving customers in Dublin, Galway, Cork and Limerick. Both companies are owned by global private equity investment company Columbia Ventures Corporation (CVC), holder of extensive telecoms assets in the US, Europe, and Australia. CVC’s other Irish interests include the ownership of Hibernia Atlantic, owner and operator of Ireland’s only direct fibre optic with North America and the UK in the form of a 12,200km submarine cable system.

Magnet Entertainment services are available to 700,000 homes in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford following a deal the company struck with ESB Telecoms last November for the rights to use the company’s national fibre optic network. That same month the company debuted 24Mb broadband services to a potential 100,000 homes in Dublin.

Commenting on the latest triple-play offering, Magnet marketing director Charlie Ardagh commented: “Magnet Entertainment aims to change the way consumers view their home entertainment and communications services by transforming the concept of digital living to consumer reality in Ireland. By providing broadband, digital television and telephone services all through a single connection with a single monthly bill, Magnet Entertainment is offering the Irish public more.”